Number of lone parents in the Australian Capital Territory on the rise (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

April 30, 2003

Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)

45/2003

Number of lone parents in the Australian Capital Territory on the rise

The number of one parent families in the ACT has increased by 28% since 1991, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The 1991 Census counted 49,854 families in the ACT, of which 20% were one parent families and 80% were couple families with children. In 2001, these figures increased to 51,820 families, of which 24% were one parent families and 76% were couple families with children.

The proportion of lone parents who have never married also increased in the ACT from 19% of all lone parents in 1996 to 20% in 2001. The most dramatic increase was for lone fathers, with the percentage never married increasing from 11% in 1996 to 14% in 2001.

These figures are available in the latest issue of the ABS publication, Australian Capital Territory Statistical Indicators. This publication also includes the following findings:

In the ACT, child-care was used by 73% of children in one parent families, while 50% of all children in couple families attended child-care.

The participation rate of lone parents in the ACT labour force was 67% in 2001, compared with 70% for all people in the ACT labour force.

Lone fathers are more likely to be in a higher income bracket than lone mothers in the ACT.

Children in couple families in the ACT were more likely to attend non-government schools than children in lone parent families.

The publication also contains figures relating to the ACT's schools and schooling, demography, labour force, prices, building and construction, crime and justice, finance, retail, the economy, transport and climate. Investigating schools and schooling in the ACT, the ABS found:

During the decade from 1992 to 2002, the number of schools in the ACT rose by 4%.

In the ACT, 67% of schools were primary schools, 20% were secondary and 9% were combined schools in 2002.

From 1992 to 2002, the number of full-time students attending government schools in the ACT fell by 9%, while the number attending non-government schools increased by 12%.

The ACT has had the highest participation rate for full-time students aged 15-18 of all states and territories since 1992.

Further information is in Australian Capital Territory Statistical Indicators, March Quarter 2003(cat. no. 1367.8).